The Demon King Always Wants to Surrender
Chapter 3
The raven tilted its head, and Anomis’s silhouette was reflected in its golden pupils.
The power he projected here was too little, with no way to bring too many people, so they stayed nearby at the Red River Valley outpost.
The so-called Red River Valley didn’t refer to a river, but to the red rocks towering on the Gobi desert, carved by centuries of fierce winds into beautiful flowing patterns. The outpost itself seemed to be some kind of massive ancient organism fossil. Staying inside felt like being swallowed into the stomach of a giant beast. The climate was dry, and when touching the walls, the rock layers would flake off slightly, revealing the ribs and spine supporting the dome.
This place bordered the Empire and belonged to the Duke of ‘Lust’ among the Seven Deadly Sins of the Demon Race, and was also a waterless land where life was almost extinct.
In this temporarily safe place, Seleinu had more time to observe this human.
Rare silver hair and red eyes, perfectly timed entrance – all these signs were too coincidental. It was hard not to suspect that this human called Anomis was a conspiracy designed to target the Demon Race. But thinking from the opposite angle, Hero Noah was also fooled and gave up his easily obtained victory, and to this day showed no signs of attacking the Demon King’s domain…
Seleinu realized that regardless of who Anomis really was, he must seize this only opportunity and firmly grasp this human in his palm.
Then the next course of action derived from this was how to control this human.
Killing him directly was a good choice – he could use necromancy to transform the corpse into a puppet. Although there was also the risk of being seen through by Noah, it was much better than the current situation of running around everywhere, being obedient and worry-free.
However, the result of this human running around was saving the children of the Demon Race…
The raven blinked, ultimately just lowering its head to preen its black feathers, temporarily suppressing its plan of action.
Couldn’t understand what this person was thinking – really such a mysterious fellow.
At this moment, Anomis, who was described as mysterious, was clasping his hands together in devout prayer. Beside him, both Marta and Tyr dared not make a sound, afraid of disturbing His Majesty the Demon King’s solemn ritual. But if anyone could read lips, they might be able to read from his moving lips:
“Don’t let dinner be human flesh, don’t be human flesh, don’t be human flesh…”
After finishing his prayer, Anomis opened that rotten wooden box that had been sealed for who knows how many years, and was immediately choked by the dust that hit his face, coughing violently. After a good while, he barely managed to open his eyes and began taking inventory of the supplies in the box.
Maps drawn on parchment, colored stones carved with runes, strange liquids in glass bottles, a beautifully carved bone knife, several inexplicable dried claws… At the very bottom was charred black jerky wrapped in dry grass.
‘…Was it really jerky?’
Anomis still asked: “What kind of creature’s meat is this?”
“I’m unable to answer. This is the territory of ‘Lust’, and I don’t know what she would prepare.”
The raven lowered its head, sufficiently humble and obedient.
“However, if it’s her, since she used wyvern bones to make the outpost, the leftover meat should have been conveniently stored here.”
“Oh Oh! Not human!”
Anomis had just reached out when he heard the raven add:
“As a family member, it’s only natural to offer one’s body.”
“Family member?”
Why did he have an ominous feeling?
“That is, her children.”
“…”
”Oh, how wonderful of you all.”
Anomis silently retracted his hand.
“Um, is it really okay to eat people’s children?”
“Of course.”
“Do you all usually live so… freely? Aren’t there funerals or anything?”
“Your Majesty, after life dies it’s just a pile of meat. Rather than burying it to rot, it’s better to become part of other lives. Being able to become Your Majesty’s food is the supreme honor you bestow upon it.”
Anomis covered his face.
This would definitely lead to revenge! It sounded exactly like the kind of thing that would get him dragged out and beaten up in the middle of some night! Speaking of which, didn’t you all have even the slightest bit of kinship love?
“Won’t you eat?”
The raven was puzzled.
“Doesn’t it suit your taste?”
The raven was worried.
“Ah, there happens to be a human here…”
The raven looked toward Marta.
“Tyr!”
Anomis immediately interrupted the chanting.
“Come over here. Lady Marta, please come this way too.”
Obviously, the mother and son also understood what Sir Raven wanted to do, and their movements were somewhat trembling. But His Majesty the Demon King’s next actions dispelled their fears. They saw him encouragingly push Tay toward the box.
“Hurry up and eat. You’re still growing, eat more.”
Tyr was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly picked up the largest piece of jerky to offer to the Demon King, but was politely declined.
“Before all the children have eaten their fill, I have no reason to indulge in pleasure.”
Anomis solemnly patted Tyr’s shoulder, incidentally wiping his hand.
“Besides, being able to only serve such simple things—”
“No no no, this is already very good!”
Marta hastily interrupted.
“I’m not flattering you, but it’s really already very good, anything is better than dying! Moreover, because of the war, we pay a lot of taxes—”
Speaking of war, she uncomfortably twisted her fingers. Seeing that His Majesty the Demon King wasn’t angry, she continued:
“What we usually eat is just black bread mixed with wood shavings and pea soup. Meat is so precious, we only eat it during festivals.”
It seems the Holy Empire’s taxes are quite heavy. Anomis unconsciously began pondering. He certainly wouldn’t naively think that taxes were increased to win the war; perhaps it was quite the opposite – precisely because domestic taxes were too heavy and contradictions sharp, they would transfer contradictions through external warfare.
However, this was just speculation. After all, the Demon Race was really too heaven-defying, so why they were fighting was still hard to say…
A suppressed sob interrupted Anomis’s thoughts. Coming back to his senses, he saw Tyr gnawing on the jerky while tears fell PITTER-PATTER. Anomis was shocked – was it really that awful?
But Tyr just sniffled and said quietly:
“The priest in town said, ‘The Demon Race’s land is cursed, the soil is barren, water sources are cut off – this is punishment sent down by the gods.’ But if it’s you, I feel things shouldn’t be this way.”
When his life was saved, he didn’t have much real feeling about it. But now, facing limited food, His Majesty the Demon King would rather go hungry to let him eat first! In Tyr’s still brief life, aside from his mother, no one had ever been so good to him.
Many people are moved often because of such unremarkable details.
“Sorry, HIC!”
He ate too hastily and couldn’t help crying, hiccupping repeatedly.
“In the future, HIC! I will definitely follow HIC! you forever!”
Anomis scratched his head – he couldn’t very well say he was just pushing away something he didn’t want to eat.
He crouched down and rubbed the child’s head.
“I haven’t suffered misfortune, nor have I been cursed by the gods. The land here is arid simply because it’s located in the center of the continent, where sea winds can’t reach.”
“…What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No, what kind of expressions are those – so scary!”
The raven looked away.
This was the first time he’d heard a human refute content from the Empire’s holy scriptures.
Unable to bear this eerie atmosphere, Anomis changed the subject.
“You just said this is the territory of ‘Lust’, right? The Imperial army reached the Demon King’s domain, meaning the Grand Duke of Lust has already been taken out?”
Almost before he finished speaking, Anomis nearly felt that substantial anger, hearing the raven spit out short phrases with the force of crushing bones:
“She opened the borders and allowed the Imperial army to invade.”
No wonder they’re eating people’s children – there’s definitely some personal grudge involved… though maybe you can’t put it that way. Making wyverns into jerky for storage definitely wasn’t something Seleinu did, so the demon who could do such a thing would only be—
Anomis decided to stop thinking about this matter.
“What about the other dukes? There should be several more dukes, right? Didn’t any come to provide support?”
“…”
“…”
“…I understand, you’re having quite a hard time too.”
Anomis sympathetically stroked the raven.
The raven almost jumped up immediately, but ultimately held back.
Anomis, realizing what he’d done, immediately withdrew his hand. Instinctive, instinctive. If it were in front of the person himself, he definitely wouldn’t dare do such a thing. But here there was only a small bird, looking so harmless, and besides, Seleinu himself was trapped in the Demon King’s domain unable to get out, which made Anomis’s courage grow a bit.
The raven suppressed the urge to frantically ruffle its feathers and was about to say something when interrupted by noise from above the outpost. If forced to describe it, it seemed like some kind of mechanical roar. Anomis knew this world had alchemy and alchemical machinery, but when he followed behind the raven, carefully peering out from the shadows of cover, he was still shocked enough to forget to blink.
Above them, a steel giant beast commanding the sky slowly passed overhead, its deep and shallow shadows racing across the earth—
It was an airship.
Huh?
HUH???
This is a magical worldview, right! Just two days ago the hero was still wearing armor and carrying a sword! How did we suddenly fast-forward to the industrial revolution?
Seeing Anomis’s shocked appearance, Seleinu was somewhat displeased and said disdainfully:
“It’s just a flying alchemical toy. Our flying dragons are faster, more agile, more powerful, and can easily shoot it down.”
This was indeed fact. Airships were basically equivalent to hot air balloons fitted with propellers – their speed was really too slow, and they were often shot down by fighter planes or even ground artillery. Speaking of this, Anomis remembered the fallen Zeppelin airships of the WWII era, with aluminum as their skeleton and hydrogen as their lifeblood, dropping fire rain woven from shells in the sky…
“Wait, did something fall down?”
An inconspicuous black shadow fell from the airship, swaying like a leaf in the fierce wind.
Thinking of shells, Anomis instinctively reached out and caught Tyr, who had come out to watch the excitement, pressing him firmly underneath for protection. They heard an ear-splitting explosion that almost made their hearts stop. Long after the airship had gradually moved away, their hearts were still beating frantically.
Facts proved that humans, as creatures, had an innate instinct for watching excitement. After Anomis got up, Tyr immediately looked curiously toward the large crater smashed out by the falling object, but before he could take a step, he turned around to see Anomis walking unhesitatingly in the opposite direction.
“Why was this scene so familiar?”
“Eh wait, Your Majesty, aren’t you going to take a look?”
“Not looking.”
Anomis earnestly educated the child.
“If people don’t court death, they won’t die. Watching excitement has risks, eating melons requires caution. When encountering this kind of situation in the future, you must run away immediately.”
“But, but that seems to be a person!”
“Then we should run even faster. If we don’t run now, it’ll be too late when we get scammed.”
“It looks like it might be the hero!”
Anomis came to an abrupt stop, and Tyr crashed into his back.
As the smoke and dust cleared, at the bottom of that meteor crater lay a person who was almost completely shattered. Under the impact, the gleaming silver armor had cracked, and limbs were also arranged in a twisted state, gradually being soaked by a small pool of blood. Falling from that height, it was impossible to have a single intact bone.
Most fatal was that a dagger was embedded almost completely in his chest.
The sound of flapping wings arose as the raven circled in the air once, then dove toward the bottom of the pit with an excited, predatory posture—
Then Anomis made a flying tackle, covering the entire bird under his coat.
“Let go!”
Seleinu was furious. There wouldn’t be a better opportunity than this. As long as he erased this threat, as long as he killed Noah, he could protect the relics left by the Demon King. Sharp feathers extended like branches, easily cutting through Anomis’s palm like a paper cutter.
How could Anomis let go – if the hero died, how could he surrender!
Though he looked like he should already be completely dead.
Then Noah opened his eyes.
He’s, he’s come back to life!
They saw this young man who should have been smashed to pieces slowly sit up, look around, and spit out a mouthful of blood. Finally, he stared in the direction the airship had departed, and with a face soaked in blood yet still holy as an angel, slowly said:
“Damn, old geezer, when I get back I’m gonna blow up your gold coins.”
Anomis:” …”
Seleinu: “…”
